EliteTorrents shut down by U.S. customs and FBI

EliteTorrents, a well known and one of the most used BitTorrent sites has been shut down today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Here is the entire press release...

This morning, agents of the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed 10 search warrants across the United States against leading members of a technologically sophisticated P2P network known as Elite Torrents. Employing technology known as BitTorrent, the Elite Torrents network attracted more than 133,000 members and, in the last four months, allegedly facilitated the illegal distribution of more than 17,800 titles-including movies and software-which were downloaded 2.1 million times.

In addition to executing 10 warrants, federal agents also took control of the main server that coordinated all file-sharing activity on the Elite Torrents network. Anyone attempting to log on to Elitetorrents.org today will receive the following message: "This Site Has been Permanently Shut Down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

"Our goal is to shut down as much of this illegal operation as quickly as possible to stem the serious financial damage to the victims of this high-tech piracy-the people who labor to produce these copyrighted products," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Richter. "Today's crackdown sends a clear and unmistakable message to anyone involved in the online theft of copyrighted works that they cannot hide behind new technology."

"Internet pirates cost U.S. industry hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue every year from the illegal sale of copyrighted goods and new online file-sharing technologies make their job even easier," said Assistant Secretary Garcia. "Through today's landmark enforcement actions, ICE and the FBI have shut down a group of online criminals who were using legitimate technology to create one-stop shopping for the illegal sharing of movies, games, software and music."

"The theft of copyrighted material is far from a victimless crime," said Assistant Director Reigel of the FBI. "When thieves steal this data, they are taking jobs away from hard workers in industry, which adversely impacts the U.S. economy. The FBI remains committed to working with our partners in law enforcement at all levels and private industry to identify and take action against those responsible."

Building on the success of Operation Gridlock, a similar takedown announced by federal law enforcement last August that has already led to the felony convictions of three P2P copyright thieves, Operation D-Elite targeted the administrators and "first providers" or suppliers of copyrighted content to the Elite Torrents network. By utilizing BitTorrent, the newest generation of P2P technology, Elite Torrents members could download even the largest files-such as those associated with movies and software-far faster than was possible using more traditional P2P technology.

The content selection available on the Elite Torrents network was virtually unlimited and often included illegal copies of copyrighted works before they were available in retail stores or movie theatres. For example, the final entry in the Star Wars series, "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," was available for downloading on the network more than six hours before it was first shown in theatres. In the next 24 hours, it was downloaded more than 10,000 times.

Operation D-Elite is being conducted jointly by ICE and the FBI as part of the Computer And Technology Crime High Tech Response Team (CATCH), a San Diego task force of specially trained prosecutors and law enforcement officers who focus on high-tech crime. Federal and state member agencies of CATCH include the ICE, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the San Diego District Attorney's Office, San Diego Police Department, the San Diego Sheriff's Department, and San Diego County Probation.

Operation D-Elite was coordinated and will be prosecuted by the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, with the assistance and support of Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) coordinators in San Diego and U.S. Attorneys' Offices in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The Motion Picture Association of America provided valuable assistance to the investigation.

Early reports from sites like Slyck.com said the site was hacked but as the day went on, it became clear what had happened. The worst thing about the press release for EliteTorrent users is that it seems to imply that some of the users of the site are also under criminal investigation.

"Internet pirates cost U.S. industry hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue every year from the illegal sale of copyrighted goods and new online file-sharing technologies make their job even easier,"
Hundereds of billions now? They increase the amount they lose every day.

Ok so they said hundred(s) of billions of dollars meaning more than one.... so lets just say two just to be on the minimal side of what was said.... the GDP of 2003 was about 11 trillion dollars. With a little division you can go BAM 1.8% of GDP. What does that mean? That piracy causes a drop in GDP of about 2% and that is his minimal estimate.... are they inflating the figures? HELL YA. Think of every service and product traded in the US that creates 11 trillion dollars. What this dong is saying, given his statistic, is that for every 98 dollars that are created two of them are stolen to piracy. Lets see now.... how many products are there out there.... rent, McDonalds, clothes... however somehow we managed to pirate a whooping 2% of the total of all dollars created...
BULL $H!+
Ludikhris

"[11:29pm]«@ [******]» Ok this is the deal people listen closely
[11:30pm]«@ [******]» This whole ordeal started with a STOLEN workprint form lucas films
[11:30pm]«@ [******]» This promted a FEDERAL investigation on that particular release
[11:30pm]«@ [******]» Now MPAA could not touch ET (civily) but because a CRIMINAL
[11:30pm]«@ [******]» CASE was issued that now changes the RULES
[11:31pm]«@ [******]» lucas wanted someones head on a platter
[11:31pm]«@ [******]» Said it cost the film Big dollars making it a felony
[11:31pm]«@ [******]» Said it was taken over seas to foreign countries
[11:31pm]«@ [******]» thus bringing in ICE
[11:32pm]«@ [******]» NOW someone from ET leaked to the WRONG people that ET had this release up
[11:32pm]«@ [******]» 6 hours prior to its first showin
[11:32pm]«@ [******]» And that it was DL 10k times
[11:32pm]«@ [******]» This focused the CRIMINAL case on to ET
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» (thinking it was probably someone here) BUT NO IT WAS NOT ANYONE FROM ET WHO STOLE THE MOVIE
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» FBI shuts ET down issue warrants for admins PC
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» NOT ALL WARRANTS WERE ET STAFF
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» TWO admins were raided and ONLY their PC was taken
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» NO arrest have been made
[11:33pm]«@ [******]» No other details have been leaked
[11:34pm]«@ [******]» Right now there is still a CRIMINAL case going on with the SW3 WORKPRINT RELEASE
[11:34pm]«@ [******]» Those who DL may have something to worry about
[11:34pm]«@ [******]» BUT for now only those who made it AVAILABLE has to worry about it
[11:35pm]«@ [******]» NOw I DO NOT
[11:35pm]«@ [******]» KNOW what is to become of the logs with the star wars DL
[11:36pm]«@ [******]» I DONT KNOW what ****** is doing
[11:36pm]«@ [******]» or gone to
[11:36pm]«@ [******]» This came from a MOD who called to update someone on what happened to the 2 admins
[11:36pm]«@ [******]» That is it for now"
"Directly from Elitetorrents on the Efnet network"
The MPAA seems to think they can dictate what people should do or not do on the Internet, now just because they shut do one torrent site does NOT under any circumcises mean that there going to stop illegal file sharing because at the end of the day people will always find new ways to get around annoying things like the MPAA. I would say torrents sites are nothing at all when it comes to illegal file sharing.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 26 May 2005 @ 5:15

et isnt the only site i tried to open up chronictracker.com and i get this
Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable.
i wonder if the same thing happened to them?

What the MPAA and RIAA fail to understand is this..
1)Information Technology is a perpetually evolving beast. YOU CAN NOT KILL IT !!
2)They are also largely to blame for their own problems, for example.. Who brought internet downloads, torrent and other P2P networks to the attention of the general public. THEY DID !!
3)Who leaked the majority of the recent high profile products to the internet in the first place. THEY DID
People like Lucas Arts should take a long hard look at themselves before they go lashing out. This exercise was a gross misuse of power and public money!!

This exercise was not about P2P, it was about the STOLEN workprint of Episode Three. It´s illegal to share/download em nomatter what your copyright law says. I dont think that a "normal" copy would´ve caused this much fuzz.

Quote:This exercise was not about P2P, it was about the STOLEN workprint of Episode Three

of course it about P2P, if it was purely about the workprint release we would be seeing LucasArts Vs JonDoe(workprint liberator)
Yes downloading is a criminal offense (in this case as opposed to civil law) but who let it out?

No they can't go after every one because not every 1 is in the US and that means they don’t have lots of power in other countries, but they do have all the power they need when it comes to people in the US and if they really want to show they wont stand for it then they will bust every 1 that dl it from ET that are in America, people will say they can bust non Americans by exporting them but i CAN NOT see governments export there citizens just because of something like that not as if they murdered anyone. Plus it cost way to much money to do it.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 26 May 2005 @ 5:23

"of course it about P2P, if it was purely about the workprint release we would be seeing LucasArts Vs JonDoe(workprint liberator)"
They´re just trying to find out who leaked the workprint on P2P and Elitetorrent was the best place to start looking.

I don't think it was Ep III alone that killed the site, but once attention was brought to it and they saw how many movies were there they had to drop a heavy hammer as opposed to say a cease and desist request if they were only tracking Ep III and a few other movies.

Thats pretty stupid, now the bush admisnistration is blaming pirates for the bad economy they caused i really think they should look at how rich those corpataion are i mean seriously a lot of people just go buy stuff instead of download it because it's such bad qulity and the games aren't playable online some times its like getting an evaluatiion that you can keep forever but with some features disabled
"The theft of copyrighted material is far from a victimless crime," said Assistant Director Reigel of the FBI. "When thieves steal this data, they are taking jobs away from hard workers in industry, which adversely impacts the U.S. economy. The FBI remains committed to working with our partners in law enforcement at all levels and private industry to identify and take action against those responsible."
RIGHT... go and look at how rich they are even if 10,000 people downloaded it

i really think they need to get out of the piriting problem i mean especially the U.S. government they should be helping with the epidemic of aids in africa more than stopping a few petty thefts the corpations r extremly rich it wouldnt matter that much if they lost maybe 4% to piricy oh wow now i cant buy that ferrari i wanted boo hoo

Well they got me scared enough to not download any more movies or games. This still does not mean I am going to go out an buy them. I never did before and I am still not going to and I am sure I am not the only one. So, how is that going to effect the economy. I think the economy is bad, movie sales went down because of it and they want to blame it on somthing.

C'mon, let's be realistic here.
This is typical government policy:
"Hey, we fcuked up. Let's find somebody else to blame for it!"
Between the scapegoating of electronic music culture for the drug war and p2p for decreased sales in mass media, the youth of America are solely responsible for all of the ills of the country!
For shame!!!

Quote:OK what the hell has torrent downloading got to do with immigration

I'm pretty sure that they said that the workprint had been taking to another country and that’s why the immigration got involved, if that’s so then my understanding is that the so called person that took it aboard was an American and the immigraton would have the power to export that person, they all seem to think that it was ET that was the soure of the workprint.

Quote:This is typical government policy

Yes typical American policies :)

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 26 May 2005 @ 13:31

"When thieves steal this data, they are taking jobs away from hard workers in industry, which adversely impacts the U.S. economy. The FBI remains committed to working with our partners in law enforcement at all levels and private industry to identify and take action against those responsible."
Hilarious! What about the tens of millions of illegal immigrants who are our milking our country dry.
When our people going to wake up and realize that 98% of all Federal, State, County and City government officials are complete and utter morons? The only thing they care about is campaign contributions and illegal donations.
Public officials are some of the most corrupt individuals in this country but watch how fast they toss your kid in jail when he downloads a few mp3's.
Pathetic...

"The long-awaited last chapter in the "Star Wars" serial lifted the box office from last weekend's take by 67 percent."
"Still, the total box office for the weekend was down 3.5 percent from the same weekend last year."
Ahhhh, and of course that is ALL because of p2p.
I'm sure higher gasoline prices, auto insurance and health insurance premiums have nothing at all to do with lower sales.

IMHO the workprint release was a marketing ploy. I've seen the SW:III no less then 3 times at the Local movie house. I will buy the DVD... I will buy the boxed DVD set(s).. I have 3 boxed sets of the 4-6.. One on VHS, 2 on DVD (1 WS, 1 directors cut). I also have multi copies of the DVD of 1 & 2.. All the above was store bought. But to make a long story short. What is the dollar figure of the copies downloaded vs the dollar figure to do teh same amount of advertising..I also Agree that Lucas should look in house for the leak rather the public...
CaveHermit
"Q: Who Watches the Watchers?"
"A: We Do."
P.S. Who's working on Rehacking the site do prove to the goverment that Site hacking is still illeagal

shifting focus a little but still very pertinent, i find it hard to believe that anyone these days would host a p2 site in the United States...talk about asking for trouble..anyone who has a server and site registered in the country where they live is asking for trouble and even more so in the United States.
What´s the matter with them ? They don´t know how to use the net to contract a server in Canada, Eastern Europe or the Far East ?
Anyone hear of a server being raided or a site shut down in those areas ? answer : NO !

You guys need a few facts, although i love rumors!
Firstly, the server was hosted in the Netherlands, where they already have lax copywright laws, and that is why ICE was involved in the investigation.
The admins are under investigation and they were from the US, also major uploaders have been targeted.
The workprint did not origionate from the release group called Visa, nor did it origionate from Elite torrents!
And it was not EP III that got the site shut down, the FBI had been tracking the site for months!

unfortunitly now the rest of the world gets to see the FBI (feeling brainless and incompatant) at work .you know this country is at war with a 6ft Saudia with a dyalises machine attcahed at his hip that they cant find, who in the last 4 years has released more films then Gynith Pathrow. and now we have to worry about them chassing our children down over some movie or software package that was downloaded off the net wow. this country needs a valuim and they need to chill out alittle . I mean since when has our hard drives become the scurge of the nation ? what about oh the Enron guys or the Michel Jackson and protecting our children instead we are chasing down the smart kids who have figured out "if its free its for me..... " so much for the american way....... I guess I should pack up and move to France where the Judges are tired of this issue and the lawsuets....

Piracy does cause damage to the economy - there's no way it doesn't. For anyone to say, "Lucas should have been more careful" is exactly the same as saying, "All those P2P people need to stop downloading." It's just pointing the finger somewhere else.
Everyone involved is equally to blame. That's that. And Afterdawn itself is just a cover for a huge amount of piracy - all masked behind tidy little "backup" jobs.

Quote:Everyone involved is equally to blame. That's that. And Afterdawn itself is just a cover for a huge amount of piracy - all masked behind tidy little "backup" jobs.

How is it a fucking mask for piracy? Because the same techniques to backup can be used to make pirate copies? Give me a break, go shut down the library system because their books can give you vital information to build bombs ok? Through that case in front of any court and get laughed at.
Afterdawn is not masking anything, we offer what we know for all interested. I noticed you seem to forget the followoing point also...
Afterdawn is based in Europe, which has a lot different view of things than the U.S. For example, a French court told the movie industry where to go by ruling in favour of a movie downloader who downloaded hundreds of movies, why? Because the dvd media he buys is expensive due to an extra levy on it that is supposed to compensate the movie/music industry and thats the way it is in a lot of european countries. The way the court says it was, a P2P network can be likened to a VCR, he used it to download a movie which he then burned to DVDR.
In many cases though I agree with you, downloading a DVD-Rip of a retail dvd is a lot different to downloading a CAM ot TS copy that came right from a movie theatre just days after the movie opened for example. However, you have to remember that you are pointing the blame at others too, like afterdawn for example. So its all this sites fault because it offers some information legally? come on!!!
Its like i said before on another thread
"It's a bad situation, whatever side you are on the other side is screwing you"

Mangoogle you sound very upset with the whole of it. the part everyone is try to figure out is why blame the downloaders for something that is easyly fixed the leak has distribution issues on it it the new star wars has been leaked by the very same comany who made it and they arnt going to hold someone respondsable for doing it they are going after the downloaders instead... sorry but you cant expect everyone be held to that level of honesty... if you found a ten dollar bill and you knew it wasnt yours would you still pick it up? of course you would if noone was around well if a person downloaded a peice of software to create something then published it they would have to buy a licence to put it out on the market ... that would be fair use. if I stand on the mountain and empty my wallet of say 100 one dollar bills and throw them to the wind is it fair expect that every one who finds one will bring them back or that I could go to their homes and search for them....

Gentlemen and Lades: I am retied. I haven’t gone to the movies for many years. When I was working I didn’t have the time nor the outrages money to go. Now I have even less money but I have lots of time. Thanks to the BtTorrent I have seen some of the movies that I still can’t go to see. This whole thing is about Money money money. The US government is part and parcel of it all. Use unknown can do very little to change it but Bitch. Unless you write, call and vote. Those government people will stop this corporate pursuit of your money if their livelihood is threatened. Together you have power use it. Don’t just bitch.
For your info Star Wars the downloaders I, estimate by checking the sites I know of, was more than 50,000. Yet on the Washingtonpost.com movie section Friday, May 27, 2005 reads:
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" set several records last weekend, taking in a whopping $158.5 million in North America alone.
Just how much did those downloaders hurt the industry?? If people are going to the movies this only wets the apatite to go to see the show in it splendor.
Don’t just bitch do something!!!

I went to see it in cinema :-) movie was well worth the money too :-) I however dont understand people going to a theatre to watch a movie thats about 1 hour and 10 minutes long featurng terrible actors and ridiculous jokes. For the same money i went to see star wars for an hour and 15 minutes :-)
I dunno, it's crazy, i dunno what to think lol

Completely with you on that one Dela. I dont mind paying to see a good quality film, or purchase a copy of a good album. What i dont understand or agree with is, why one earth should we be expected to pay the same amount for the box office flops and shitty album fillers that the studios see fit to throw at us?
Just as you can see from the box office takings for Star Wars, the public are willing to attend in their hundreds of thousands and pay a lot of money to support a well made product.
Due to the lack of internal action being taken by LucasArts I kinda get the feeling that this was a very clever marketing exercise. They certainly got a truck load of free advertising from it.

Quote:If you found a ten dollar bill and you knew it wasnt yours would you still pick it up?

Yes; at one point I found $200 and we turned it in to the police. Pocket change is one thing (like a 10 dollar bill) but ethics do come into play at some point.

Quote:How is it a ####### mask for piracy?

Ummm... ever read any of the topics...?
I'm not here to condemn anyone if they're doing it - and that doesn't mean that everyone is, but it's not right. That's not to say that I don't share things with friends etc. but that doesn't change the ethics of the thing. Understand I'm not calling you out, I'm just stating the fact of it.

ok yes a 10$ bill is a small and happy find but when we as a group (computer) users get told the next best safest thin is XP and we all throw down the 200$ just to find out that we all bought a lemon with more security holes in it then a deer crossing sign during hunting season. and did anyone go after Bill for selling a faulty product... no but download office and he'll come after you so hard that your grand children will still be paying off the debt when they die... no I used to feel that downloading was wrong then I paid for one to many programs that failed to live you to the hype and was left very delusioned by the whole experance. software should be download able for personal use free of charge then the corperate world would have to pay for the use in a buisness this way you get to be the best you can be with out having to buy everything. and this way everyone will have to buy bigger hard drives and all the latestand greatest computers to boast the economy ......

Quote: I'm not here to condemn anyone if they're doing it - and that doesn't mean that everyone is, but it's not right.

A little contradicting aren't we?
First you say "I'm not here to condemn anyone" then turn right around and say if someone is doing this they are wrong. If that isn't condemning someone than I don't know what is.
Go back under the rock you crawled out from under.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 27 May 2005 @ 11:36

Totally agree with you mystic bill gates never even bothers taking his os software to its limits.Nah he will keep updating it for a little while and before it gets anywhere close to its actually limitations he bins it and moves on to another.Why ? because he wants to keep taking everyones cash.

but beware when XP was first unvailed Bill told us we could downlaod music and movies so why isnt he paying the fines.... beware "long horn"is the next eddition going to be released by GAtes so when I get the money spent on seeing ploto nash back and all the other dog movies that I spent money on then I'll stop downloading ...... anyone got a list of 5 bad movies you paid good money for.... I bet you do so someone owes you dont they.... any way have a nice weekend...

Alot of people who probably download the stuff probabley do it because they can not afford to keep shedding out for this stuff.They probably do it because they want to give there kids everything other kids have just like buying a football shirt.Bush who is the biggest plonker of all time .He spends billions in pointless wars and us tax payers have to pay for it yet when the movie industry say jump he does.Why ? because they fund the geek to keep him in office.The US socks glad i'm not from there Bush is robbing all his good American citizens.I just wish the plonker would drop down and die and leave all the good yank people freedom to do what they want to do.

Quote:Ummm... ever read any of the topics...?
I'm not here to condemn anyone if they're doing it - and that doesn't mean that everyone is, but it's not right. That's not to say that I don't share things with friends etc. but that doesn't change the ethics of the thing. Understand I'm not calling you out, I'm just stating the fact of it.

Like what? people saying they downloaded a movie or something? like i said it is the difference in law, check out downloading in finland (where afterdawn is based) and you would be surprised to see its legality. Its for that reason that posts like "hey i downloaded a movie how can i encode it?" are allowed.
But look through the site and find me pirated content, or even an hyperlink, ed2k link, torrents file.... etc... you wont find any cause they simply don't exist here...
Therefore your accusation that afterdawn is just a cover for piracy is bullshit mate. What about newsgroups? cudnt you say usenet is just a cover for piracy also? what about a vcr? tool of piracy?
its nonsense!

Hi guys,
Firstly I like to say that bit-torrent has really revolutionised my life and the access I have to material that I wouldn’t otherwise buy or rent. I believe that digital movie advertisement and promotion is the way to go. Personally I buy many music CDs and DVD box sets even though I am a student. This includes LOTR EE and the Star Wars Trilogy. I can also freely admit that I do download material off the internet. Now the problem that I see with torrent sites is that they are often abused. For example if you’re the kind of person who does not spend a single penny on buying any CDs or DVDs but rather spend your whole time downloading things from the internet, then in my opinion you need to get a life.
I set clear rules for myself which I try never to break. For example I DO NOT download TS versions of movies that have just come out in cinema. I did not for example download SW3, but rather went to the cinema like every other human being and paid money to watch a movie that I love. I will wait as long as I need to for the Prequel trilogy to come out on box set and I will pay good money to buy that. When I do download movies off the internet it is often things that have been released on DVD for some months in which case they are often available to people at home or more often movies that have been out for a few years. In my mind I do not distinguish between recording a movie off the internet and recording a movie off cable/satellite using a VCR or a DVD recorder. The reason that I have to download movies in this way sometimes is that I do not have a Cinema or DVD Rental shop anywhere near where I leave but rather many miles away. Also the movies that I do download are usually the shit types that I am never gone pay money to watch anyway.
I must also mention that in my opinion Apple iTunes/iPod has revolutionised the way in which we buy and listen to digital music. There point of view was that the mp3 industry is huge and thus there is no way to stop it. The only real alternative is to join the game and try to at least control it. Well they have done a great job, I own two iPods and I love them. I also think their service on iTunes is great. Now it sounds to me as though Hollywood is rather stupid for not realising the potential of movies on the net. If they could control it and offer movies online for a few dollars then that would be a great source of revenue for them. In other words those rich bastards (MPAA et. al.) would get even richer.
Anyway I am really not trying to preach to anyone, but do people think that if they perhaps were more careful in downloading material that we wouldn’t be in this mess now. Even though I am liberal in my views, I think it’s just sheer greed for one to keep downloading typical copyright material especially movies that have just come out in cinema and think that this action does not affect the industry. It is not a good excuse to say that “oh well they are really not gone lose much money”. I was always brought up to recognise that even though you could get things free, it was not necessarily always the best solution.
My final word is YES, yes I do understand the hypocrisy in America and the world. How Enron’s dealings left people like GW Bush with a lot of campaign money and how cooperation’s steal every day from people who aren’t well off, but this is no excuse for us to just say fuck it, they do it so why don’t we?

Nice comment :-) I share pretty much all your thoughts and sure do have the LOTR EE's on DVD :D lol
Altho i disagree when it comes to music. CDs dont have DRM, so why the hell should a music download have it? Now you could argue its to protect the music from being put on a P2P network.... but that music u may bet is already all over P2P networks lol Digital Rights Management (shud be caled Digital Restrictions Management) treats the entire world like potential pirates. I mean i hate seeing those stupid mvie download ads on my purchased DVDs, it's always the first thing i get rid of while making a backup.
Altho i do admire the way apple plainly refuses to raidse the price of music on iTunes (a move which is kinda pissing off record labels). The labels are now basically telling people that they are upset with Apple because it wont charge less for some older music that is no currently being sold as much as new music, but what they dont tell u is how much they want to charge for new release music, which you can bet your ass will be more than 99c per track!
iPods are cool, but I think mobile phones will kill them. The iTunes phone wont however, it will get no support because it relies on a computer and the internet to purchase music, whereas the recording industry would love to see some kind of service where peope can download songs literally from the air (which right now isnt that possible with currently used mobile technology). I do like Nokia's attempt though, a moile phone with a 4GB HDD, capable opf playing MP3 and various other formats.
Also the quality difference between music you can buy on CD and music from iTunes is too different. Several tests from audiophiles show that the quality of an iTunes song would be lower than a proper ripped VBR MP3 for example. However, you are right, they did realise they canopt defeat MP3, they had to give into it.
Lets all just sit back and see what happens ;-)

This is all very upsetting. I download and frankly I really like it. It isn't easy. I get spyware and have lost my files more than once. I am married and have two kids. Money is always very tight. I like getting things that don't cost money and I like checking things out for the kids. We can't afford movies or me buying anime ect.. and it is something I can do that makes me feel less stupid. If you can copy,great,but it isn't that easy. I doubt the industry is losing money from me,because I couldn't buy these shows in the first place.
Something smacks false in the lofty statements of right and wrong. There is no less self interest in those opposing P2Ps than those who participate in them. In fact, I should say the opposite.
Also,I notice that a few of those who write to oppose sites like afterdawn,which I find a friendly,intelligent site, use odd turns of phrase. They sound like plants not real people.
I believe in free speech and I personally don't want the world to be run by a few corporations and industries. I want my kids to be able to think.

Hi,
It is interesting, because on Afterdawn we can see so many different points of view and that is perfectly acceptable since we live in a democracy (I hope). Shitting on people’s beliefs has never been my forte, but as I have mentioned before I don’t believe in abusing what we have. For example, I have a colleague at university who takes home many printer ink cartridges just because they are available even though he does not really require them. Soon people will start to wonder what is happening with these cartridges and it will make life difficult for everyone else. That is an analogy which tends to be true for all walks of life. No system should be abused and in my opinion if you never contribute anything to the industries that are producing these great movies or music albums or even games, then you are an ABUSER and there is no doubt about that. The extreme abuser is someone who actually makes money out of buying and selling copyright material. Also saying things like “I don’t believe my actions will make any impact” is rather naïve because if enough people do it, it will make a considerable impact. Other arguments are “I download all my media coz I’s got no money”, which again is strange. I am a student who lives on toast most of the time (no kidding) and I can afford to bye DVDs on occasion.
Anyway I am starting to sound like a preacher again so I’m sorry but as I said I do download media off the internet including movies and music albums but I do it in moderation and with certain rules. I believe in freedom as much as the next man but I rather think it is my duty to make some contribution to the people who have for example written, produced, directed, and acted in movies by occasionally paying money to buy the film. I guess it does not matter what I think anyway since people will always take as much as they can get there hands on and that will continue long after we are gone. It is human nature to be greedy… but let’s just hope that we can continue to have these wonderful torrent sites up and running for many years to come.
Peace out

hi all
didnt i hear somewhere france is taking a stand on sharing files? i must admit the film companies arnt making alot of money out of me, as i havent been to the cinema in what? 15 years, i think its just to expensive for a married man to take the whole family to see a film at a cost of like £50 after popcorn and drinks that costs a days wages, either wait to buy the dvd when it comes out at £10 roughly or hire it from the rental shop at £3.50 and for £3.50 the whole family get to see what others paid £50 for....
i spose films are like computer parts if you want the latest and greatest, bittorent is your friend...
at the end of the day we all live by rules and laws of the land, if we didnt have them it would be kaos...

My my this news report has really hit a few raw nerves. This website (Afterdawn) is, in my opinion, a useful tool to my own investigation, use and research into all sorts of material and methods I wish to look at...be it rip, own or buy on the web, down the local music store or in the DVD shop. The industry, both music and film, has long dictated to us what we should buy and can or cannot own or download and to how much we should pay. The cost to us punters, over the years, has made a lucky few very wealthy. The internet has provided a tool with which we can know make our own choice. If you’re against piracy then don’t download. If you swing the other way then download. It’s our choice. Myself...I download music I find to 'try before I buy'. Why should I cough up my hard earned cash to purchase shite from the download sites which is often of so poor quality anyway? I for one will buy legitimately the music I want to own, and, using the Internet, will normally get a good price! The same goes for the films available, who in there right mind would want to download the latest starwars epic in very poor quality with all the timing information, on permanent display, in the top rh corner!

Well if this has been touched on then sorry. Dela there are no laws that say you can't backup stuff you own. As long as you do not use the backup for profit or hand offs. I copy my kids DVDs right when they come out of the box. The kids watch the backups and I store the originals out of sight. If you have kids then you know how long it takes for the DVD to become scratched and unusable. The copies get messed up frequently. So would you wrather send $15 each time the movie is messed up or just 50 cents to recopy it? I am in no violation of any law. I do not give the copies to anyone or sell them. Oh yeah if you choose to sell the original then you also have to give up the copies. Yes the back up infor mation can be used by peoploe who want to copy rented material. that is illeagle.
My main torrent site got smat, so it seems. When going to thier site you get the file not found error. Try 2 more times and it comes up. Same with the torrent D/L pages of this site. you have to click the links several times for them to come up. strange isnt it? There is not much of a selection there tho. No this does not contradict what I listed above. I am not torrenting movies. And how can they say they are losing so much revenue? They still report billions in profits. If you cant live off that then you are an ass.
Make things cheaper hollywood and this would not happen. under $10 for a DVD ($3 per extra DVD in set)$3 for a CD and $4 for a VHS. This would increase sales by numbers and will increase your profits. Not to mention lower the desire to P2P media. Think about it Greedy ones.
-Del

Hello All -
LOL I'm just remembering when the good old cable company - never seemed to mind if you switched on the old VCR - to record a good "pay per view movie" !
I know they would even help with instructions how to set up the cables - LOL.
In fact - I know they still don't frown on it.
All these movie moguls are just pissed - because now we have access to their technolgy - that they have had for years - They better get used to it - or they'll need more counseling.

Put aside for a moment morality and whatnot, I agree with viperRT and others, I don't recall any problems with copying with videos,tapes- it is just that some seem to really want their every half pennysworth. Good grief! Get a life!
Besides, I like learning how to make anime videos. I don't know how yet, but it's fun. More so than knitting!

HOLY F***ING S***!!!! You have GOT to be kidding me? Anyways, as some of you know I am on vacation when I just wanted to see the latest news...and I couldn't believe what I read.
Damn, ET shut down! This totally blows...hopefully the other sites will continue to be active and we'll be able to get some good stuff.
V
R.I.P-ET :(

Just a couple of points here. What the F#%k is Homeland Security and Immigration involved with this for? No wonder they cant even defend our F#%king borders. C'mon A##holes, start doing what the tax payers pay you to do or get the F#%k out. You aren't paid to be thug enforcers for RIAA and The elite Hollywood marxists. It's really all about money and power, isn't it?
Exactly who has lost their job because of piracy. Making digital copies of music and movies employes the same number, whether it is a millon or a billon copies manufactured for sale. Fact is,if there was no piracy, there would be less need for lawyers and law enforcement. Just like if there was no illegal immigration, there would be alot less need for immigration. BTW isn't that why Marijuana won't be legalized? Because of all the jobs lost in the federal and local government if it was legalized? Criminalizing something ensures a self perpetuation of job security.
The truth is that the movie and music industry is making 100 times as much as they did in the 60s and 70s. When is enough enough? Greed is Greed and when these industries finally see that and lower their product prices, people will stop copying.
Hell, Hollywood couldn't even make copying for personal use illegal, so they did a run around and got some paid for judges to declare that breaking their encryption was illegal, circumventing the whole issue of legitimate backups. Mooo, were all just carrion and the vultures continue to circle, picking our almost dead bones clean.

Amazing. If you don't want it out there, keep under lock and key. We are a world of consumers. We consume sh!t and lots of it. I don't know many people who are going to pass and easy and free way to save money. Provide the technology and say to us, "you can't use it that way". Here's a tip RIAA/MPAA. Use the money you're spending to stop downloading and copying wisely and invest the tecnologies. Make it cheaper and you too can benefit. Until then, the consumers will beat you!

They've been said a few times, but I'd like to echo some good points.
1) If I couldn't download it I still wouldn't buy or pay to see it. This goes for most things; I'm cheap and can wait till a friend gets it or it is on TV. This doesn't go for rare items (Cannibal the Musical, Mulholland Drive ect) as I buy those if I like them/can find them.
There is no way I'm the only one who thinks this way. Them converting every download into the loss of a $20 DVD sale or $8 movie ticket is stupid, maybe 0.1% to 0.5% of downloads would convert to sales on a good day.
2) I would have to pay $8.00 (Way too much) to see King Aurther (good) and Alexander (long and boring) and Napoleon Dynamite (good but didn't cost as much to make, pass the savings darn it!). Personally I prefer paying $3 and watching Bubba Ho Tep three months after if left the big theater with a beer and a pizza at this kick ass theater in Athens, GA. That's the way things should be everywhere for all movies. Sadly I don't live near a theater like this myself and so do not go to movies, I'm too cheap for it.
That said, it's cool to be able to get the new stuff to see if I would want to ever buy it (I downloaded, watched and bought King Aurther). I don't know what the movie companies are complaining about, it's free advertising. I'd say I'm more likely to buy a movie I download than just going blindly into the store to buy one because I refuse to go to the movies and pay half the ownership cost to preview the goods.
If the movie industry wants to do something to turn those downloads into money, they should make the movies available for download in Xvid quality for $2 a pop over high speed connections. They would get flooded with sales. They would lose a minimum of theater goers as they want to see it on the big screen or on a date and the DVD buyers would still want DVD quality and special features.
Vote Libertarian, at least most of them own computers and some tech laws can get straightened out.

Quote:That said, it's cool to be able to get the new stuff to see if I would want to ever buy it (I downloaded, watched and bought King Aurther). I don't know what the movie companies are complaining about, it's free advertising. I'd say I'm more likely to buy a movie I download than just going blindly into the store to buy one because I refuse to go to the movies and pay half the ownership cost to preview the goods.

good piont! anyone here of the film the MATRIX, well if you see the first and liked it, film onwers got 3 times the money for a leak via the net out of that one! as really it was one film split into 3 films (clever) it made them and the actors a mint fortune! even the stunt men got harley davidson motorcycles that keanu bought them for a present!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 01 Jun 2005 @ 0:05

Copyright still doesn't matter that much, for many things it would take you years to experience all the entertianment and copyrighted works out there. Most people that warez or torrent simply would not buy the product anyway. Also the capitalsit market idealogy is not exactly the just or fair in anyway to those at the bottom who have their wages completely stagnate while inflation keeps on trucking and even with high level education jobs being outsourced due to curreny inequality that is simply not fair market practice in any sense. Businesses exploit their workers, lets not pretend that they are the greatest things in the world with big Corporate fraud like Enron and Worldcom, many business people are greedy vicious fucks who don't care about the little people they screw in the quest for profit.

Just keep truckin and we'll all be ok. No matter what they do to protect their copyrights, we will get around it, as we've always done. When they get real with allowing us to make copies of what we have already paid for, there will be no more problem. Sure, bust the guy making a copy off the net, but let China get away with billions of dollars in illegal copying and selling counterfit products. MAKES SENCE TO ME. DUHHHHHHH

I would advise each and everyone who is a citizen of the United States to watch their tails. Anyone who voted for Bush the last election has open a whole can of worms for the computer community. Let me tell you a little story. Over 4 years ago I got got in a FBI sting for software copyright issues. They dropped the charges and never heard a word from the Justice department. The FBI held my computer with hopes of finding a server sharing Copyright material like movies, games, hacks, serial numbers etc. They didn't find me a player like this network that was just busted. But they did get me for copyright infringment but like I said they drop the charges. Bush gets relected and Ashcroft tells all US districts to open back files and start procescuting white collar crimes. In Feb I get a call from my attorney telling me they are reintstating the charges. They were asking for 2 years in jail with a $750,000.00 fine. I had to plead out and I have to serve 6 months in a Federal Jail, they waived the fine, then I have to do 6 months of house arrest with 3 years supervised probation. Please take all of the claims and the charges serious people as if any of you shared movies, software and downloaded the stuff the FBI will soon be knocking on your door and tearing your house up and taking all of your equipment. Get rid of the stuff and if you are caught in the net by the Feds you will be doing time!

@ Duke8888
How can we belive you are telling the truth. I myself will need proof before I belive what you said. Ever hear of scare tatics? (not the stupid TV show) What you posted is the exact same false information put out by the FEDS to try and scare people away from doing stuff. In other words it is a bluff. If you can lead me to some newspaper articles or something (more than 3 sources) proveing your claims then I might belive it. But even then those bluffs are printed in the paper as well.
You know that chick that suposidly got busted for MP3 Shareing. Now why on earth would they put her on TV if she comited a federal crime. We are not that stupid to belive stuff like that. Yes it is true an IP adress can be used to find a physical location. But do you know how difficult it realy is to get the information from the ISP. You have to get tons of approval to do so. By the time they knock on the door you already spent far more money than the person would be prosicuted for. It is not worth the FEDS time or money to go after an individual that downloads this type stuff every once and awhile. They go after the big guns. The ones makeing thousands of illegal file transfers a day. Those persons persicutions would be much more than the feds spent to get his physical adress.
Remember the TEST cards. You know the ones that hack DirectTV. Interesting that on the FBI web pages it admits they will not go after a person that buys one from time to time. They go after the ones that buy more than 500 at a time. So why would it be diferent in this case.
I really don't have much to worry about anyway. I just download an ocasinal out of country show and thats about it. Then delete after I watch it. I dont sell it. For all we know you are a FED spreading lies trying to scare people into not doing this. IF you look at how big this has become you will have to arrest pretty much the entire USA. This country would not be very productive if that happened.
Damn apple computer creator. Wanting all his stuff all to himself and creating this very problem. There was a time when all computer geeks got togeather and shared what they have learned freely (open source) then the apple computer guy discovered how to make a color pixle and refused to share it and made all his stuff secret (closed source) That bastard is the grandfather of this problem in all aspects. He set the way for corprate greed and everyone keeping secrets and crying to the feds when they are figured out. It is that very reason I do not and will not use a MAC or anything else with apple written on it. Pisses me off more that I had to install quicktime. Is there a non apple alternative to that? PC knowledge has always remained open source. Thats why many motherbords have same parts. Windows is another story.
Oh and in the 2% chance that your story is true then it sucks to be you.
-Del
I need spell check. Ah well you get what I am saying. Moderator, is there a way to get spell check in this?

I really hope that Duke8888's story isn't real;that sucks! I saw a really good shredder somewhere but I can't remember exactly where. What about trackerless bittorrents? This big brotherish tactics and harrassments is really annoying! As if one doesn't have enough shit to deal with in everday life. Is it just through ips that one is tracked? If so,there is idblocker.

its not hard to actually mask ur ip if ur one of those freaked out people getting nervous over downloading a few movies here and there. now, like del said, Duke8888, its very hard to prove something along the lines of what ur tryin to tell people. I myself (out of the other 10 billion that download stuff) download music and movies etc... but most of the items u recieve online thru file sharing is older stuff, ok ya, there is the occasional movie that is in theatres and people are downloading them. so what. i have downloaded movies but i have also bought them afterward because it is that good of a movie. Dvds and cds are way over priced and this type of thing will keep going on till the prices drop. out of the 4000 songs i have, i also have 274 cds that i have purchased over the last 4 years. people just download the extras or doubles cus they wanna mix music not have the same artist everytime. doesnt mean they stop buying cds. as for movies, i had Elf like 2 months before it came out, and i had menus and everything, but i went and bought it 2 days after release... so that gives the general idea of where some people stand. if you ask me... even tho im in canada, the MPAA can go blow a goat lol!

Oh and one other thing just to add to the record...... If the MPAA and all these other companys like movie productions etc... are worried about us copying and selling pirated versions of movies, why havent they stopped software companies from developing software that cracks security encoding and things like DVD Shrink or dvd santa etc... because they are just looking for an excuse to get money outta people, and harass them ... just a load of bull for a waste of time.. they dont know what they want

You Americans are losing your freedoms little by little , piece by piece under the rule of a religious fundamentalist MANIAC. No stem cell research while the rest of the planet moves forward ? Using the FBI ,MPAA , FCC to clamp down on your ever diminishing freedoms .
FIGHT THE POWER !! long live the hackers , geeks who give us bit torrent , P2P and the like .

Yes it is a shame to see all our freedoms taken away. Land of the free my ass. It was more free when I was in 1st grade. Now we are so close to comunist it isnt even funny. They want to controll our every choice, thoughts and mouths. The movie 1982 is not far off to what the USA is becoming. I can't even walk down the street without trying to remember what is illegal to do. It seems that when some cheese ass in the whitehouse does not like something he gets a law passed against it. Then boom another freedom taken away. I have my opinion on which poltical party is to blame but will not say here to avoid turning this thread into a politicel debate.
What the hell are they trying to turn this place into. To make certain Races happy they will twist history to involve the races that had nothing to do with the historical event. So the youth are now being tought false history. I can go on that forever but that is just an example of what is going on here. If hiliary (not worth capitalizing) wins then I am buying a passport and jumping ship. We are becoming a nation of cry baby whimps.
-Del

Yes it is a shame to see all our freedoms taken away. Land of the free my ass. It was more free when I was in 1st grade. Now we are so close to comunist it isnt even funny. They want to controll our every choice, thoughts and mouths. The movie 1982 is not far off to what the USA is becoming. I can't even walk down the street without trying to remember what is illegal to do. It seems that when some cheese ass in the whitehouse does not like something he gets a law passed against it. Then boom another freedom taken away. I have my opinion on which poltical party is to blame but will not say here to avoid turning this thread into a politicel debate.
What the hell are they trying to turn this place into. To make certain Races happy they will twist history to involve the races that had nothing to do with the historical event. So the youth are now being tought false history. I can go on that forever but that is just an example of what is going on here. If hiliary (not worth capitalizing) wins then I am buying a passport and jumping ship. We are becoming a nation of cry baby whimps.
-DelHahaha,
and...amen.

Are u F###in' S###in' me
What the hell did they want us to do, just say "yes ,my master" and pay for all the stuff at the prices that they want...that can't be.
Im a poor mexican, with no job and a large family, and they want me to pay $400 pesos (about 36, 38 dlls)for a movie, i just won't do it, i prefer DL it just to protest against that greedy bastards.
All this mess its 'cause they are making less billions that they used to make...hahaha u gotta be kiddin me!!.
Like almost all the pl have set, just get down the prices and all wil be fine, and that suggestion about selling the movies on the net at low prices would do very well.
I hate those Caps of hell.

HAHA!!! Just like Darth Vader...
Anyways, in lieu of some of the comments about us American's losing our freedoms little by little, yes that is a little true if not all of it.
Which is why I think that some third party companies are trying to make it easier to help out d/l'ers in general.
In essence, there are some torrent sites that are "masked" and that is an awesome idea, pretty ingenious if I say so, so this might be the next way to go. However, I know that it isn't full proof.
I know that I was/still am on the verge of creating a torrent site, however, with the raid on ET, it hasn't yet stopped the process, just needs to be refined a little.
It is truly sad about that and I was reading the article on USA Today which is a great paper here in the states and it was mentioned in it. As far as I know, this is the first shut down of a US torrent site. Oh well, I guess things change.
Anyways all...keep d/l'ing/seeding/and sharing and see you all in the forums!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 03 Jun 2005 @ 4:36

"From now on we are poison to you Spider-man...Thats why we call ourselves...VENOM"

We have no freedoms in this land as the Bush admin sucks in all ways. They want fill the jails up with petty crimes. They US prosecuter used the excuse my crime would have put people out of work and the judge bought it and made me to pay dearly.

2 more cents, thought occurred to me that the big pic is to take control of the web any way they can. In an interview on TV Daddy indicated to Son he better get control of the web. Son nodded with an expression that Daddy let the cat out of the bag. This was when Son was new to the job. Not hear say I saw it.
arnold2

Recently in Pittsburgh a student at CMU was caught by the feds. He created a file p2p server that allowed people from all over the world to download movies and music and copyright material programs. They shut him down and now he is being charged and it will take 2 years before his case comes to trial. They are seeking between 7 to 9 years and a fine of $750,000. Recently the feds arrested a mail sending spam emails they had his trial and was sent to jail for 9 years with a fine of 1 million bucks. His case is on appeal but he sits in jail until the appeal is reviewed. The feds are trying to set new laws with the internet and they plan to be very creative. Recently Tommy Chong who had a web site in California was charged in Pittsburgh federal court for selling bong pipes online. He was sent away for 10 months and fined 1 million and lost of web site. Record, movie and software companies are being very active in making civil suits as well as criminal. The federal courts and jails are so backlogged it is stupid. Now they want to sent people who are not harden criminals to jail. If I was a criminal and if I knew of any illegal activities I would have gotten probation instead of jail time. That sucks.... People be very up and up and do not laugh in the face of the feds they have the pariot act on their side and can use it anyway they see fit. They are and you will see more people getting tried and convicted soon.

FYI group, all of those updates for MS XP the last two months have incorporated fed tracking devices to be placed on your systems and to make better data recovery for the feds when they get hold of your systems.

that s why i still using windows 2000 because xp has clonflict with many unoficial programs like the p2p sites. this is all for money power and control it doesn't materr whos in the government it will be always the same like the sith the loking for absolutely and forgot wher they come from.About finding ip adress yes the can be found there are programs for that i remember to use one like year ago because i detect a weird activiti in my moden so i decide to dowload one of this programs and track the signal the first ip was from my friend that i used to play online from him to my cable company and i find the ip adress of one of the cable company servers and the name of the person,he was using my computer to send information to 2 bancs in usa one in washintong and the other in texas and a 3rd one in europe,so idecide to go and have a word wiht this guy and his boss. i just ask to leve my computer out of his buisnes and that i don't care whatever his was doing but not from my computer from he make a lot s of excuses to be ok wiht his boss,all that i know is from that day nthing more hapend tomy computer. i don't want to alarm you guys but in the next town to me the fed arrest some guy and he s in prision now we just have to be carefull and is ease just need an external hard disc wiht big capacity and have a backup of every stuff that can get you in troubles so if the knock youre doar some they youre computer will be clean i know this hole situation is injustice because in the streets are real criminals that kill peapole and the sentence is only 3 years and many of them are out in 12 or 18 months and if you copy one disc they give you 10years and alots of trobles that only prove that the goverments care more about the money over the lives of the people.thats why we haved to live like the mice,hiding from the cat moving corner to corner throu the shadows to survive.

Hello everyone. Some know of me and some don't but, my views are plain and simple. Here's a question that will make one think. If there was no money involved in these incident then would there be a file sharing incident.
I mean really how long is the average citizen gonna be blamed for indusrty screw ups. How long will the industry use the government as an iron curtain to use fear tactics into getting paid more money. Its all about politics.... and we all know that politics = money, power, and greed.
Sharing is sharing, and trading is trading etc. I dont feel that anyone has abused anything. I have no idea why the US government got involved except to gain extra revenue of tax dollars in which they misuse anyways. I posted an example on tax revenue in the "Whats all the fuss about Star Wars" forum!
I also have this itching feeling like there is a rat amongst us. Call it paranoia and nothing can be done about it but lets be realistic. I'm not worried about some overpaid celebrity whose pockets were filled because of us...makes millions in a day, and then complains that they could've made an extra 2 million if it wasn't for those pesky P2P filesharers.
The world economy was on its way to shit anyways and instead governments look for small thing to blame instead of real problems like overspending for war expenses. Or how about bombing countries and then paying to rebuild them. What type of shit is that. And Homeland Security is a joke. Because if it ever came down to someone protecting my life I think I would choose myself over them.
I dont think anyone should just bend over and take this shit when real crimes are being committed that involve people dying. The US hasnt even been successful on the illegal importation of coccaine and marijuanna. Or how about illegal immigrants. Do these sound like good enough reasons for an economy to be fucked up. In my opinion..Yes!

Venom....
bring on the torrent site!!!!!...ALL torrent sites are welcome(i know we are not supposed to let our enthusiasm be shed about these sites)...and i am glad there has been a way to show these sites to screw the government consignments put to regulate them even if they are "supposed" to be secret....all hope is GREATLY shown...live on the revolution...F*ck the US...

Is therer a programer amoung us? I thought of a fairy tale called the Tinderbox. A soldier is smuggling a princess out at night and to not be traced,(the princess was followed and an x marked on the soldiers door), the soldier's dog marked all doors in the town with an X. W
My idea: a program that that gives out hundreds of IP
addresses,thousands,and just keeps going.
Every time a trace is activated, it can trigger echos.
Is it possible?

Hey guys! I forgot- just use IDBlocker from www.wilders.com..Just remember to copy your comp #s when the program runs,or you won't be able to update your windows.
Oh, and I may be parinoid, but not everyone on the web,forums are nec-cesarily real; Perhaps,they work for the other side?

@rx29
Your web link does not work. And yes I would not be suprised if some people in here work for them. Would even be funny if the program your link is for is also working for them. You never know.
Im not that paranoid though. Keep it legle as best you can then you have nothing to worry about. Never hurts to invest in an external HDD. They come off the computer very easy.
end @
On another note. I am trying to see who would be interested in a 2 month Media boycott. You may have already read about it in another thread. For just in case I put it here as well.
-Del

sorry about the web link; I probably gave the wrong address. one is wilders security and one is some religous site.
I would boycott, but we are so tight on cash we really don't do media that much. that is why I got into p2p.also I have an obsessive personality and hate rules that condemn or effect free speech.

Quote:Sharing is sharing, and trading is trading etc. I dont feel that anyone has abused anything. I have no idea why the US government got involved except to gain extra revenue of tax dollars in which they misuse anyways. I posted an example on tax revenue in the "Whats all the fuss about Star Wars" forum!

Come on mate, Copyrights are there for a purpose. if you feel there is nothing wrong with sharing movies and stuff, your living in denial. Its basically stealing. You dont own the movie on the disc, you own the licence to watch it. The licence does not allow you to duplicate it...if you do this by whatever means, you are stealing...
The US government got involved because in the first hour that the New Star Wars was released, 10,000 individuals had downloaded it. In the first day over 2,000,000 apparently downloaded it. Even if it slowed down, by a fortnight over 10,000,000 would have downloaded it, thats 10,000,000 x $5 tickets = $50,000,000 in lost revenue.
I think you can see why its a problem...

But you should be allowed to backup the things you buy in case it gets damaged. I see plenty wrong in the Star Wars scenario. If you are not renting and copying or selling your copies I see no reason why you can't make backups of your films. Yes I know people would backup and sell the copies but that is not my intention or to make it available on-line. Let the crooks do that. Although Hollywood items are over priced those involved should get something for the entertainment you had from it. Nobody likes to work for free.
$8 a DVD ($3 each additional in a set) $3 a music CD $4 VHS (plastic cost money) This is my suggested price guide that may lessen piracy. Make things more affordable and most would have no reason to steal it. All prices for anything in a theater MUST be lowered, including the ticket for the movie. More people may actually go to the movies if that happened.
Just my thoughts
-Del

Hey Rotary mate, im keeping well thanks (though im dying with a nasty cold and chest infection at the min). My guides are still on my computer, but they are hosted anywhere. I didnt have the time to maintain Chrismccann.co.uk or dvd-backup.tk. If anyone wants the to host the guides, thay can feel free. They havent been updated or anything, but they are still fairly relevant.
How's things with you buddy? Anything new? Im still about here on AD, just usually post stuff in the Displays forum, cuz there are too many experts in all the others, im kinda redundant lol.

ID-Blaster Plus 2.0
Destroy tracking tactics by randomizing GUID/Unique ID numbers found on your computer.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/idblaster.html
Not a good thing with our satellite Internet connection.
Could not surf after a reboot, maybe some settings should be different, dunno.
do know we have our share of problems with the connection an need
no more. Had to re-setup the whole thing... LOL have done it so much can do it my sleep now. Thanks for the info anyway.

Grateful for any and all helpful information and guidance. Thank you arnold2

Even if it slowed down, by a fortnight over 10,000,000 would have downloaded it, thats 10,000,000 x $5 tickets = $50,000,000 in lost revenue.
I think you can see why its a problem...
Star Wars over rated anyway but .... People who want to see it will pay to see it and even buy the DVD when ever. Those who are not going to go see it in the first place but curious will dl. I would not count those dl for $$... I have dl a lot of trash ... lol

Grateful for any and all helpful information and guidance. Thank you arnold2

In the end people will do what they want to do anyways. I don't wanna hear that crap about lost revenue to some economy. If someone wants to get rich cause somebody wants to go see a movie then good for them. If someone wants to dl a movie then fine with me. The world is based on currency which by the way is based on a bunch of bullshit anyways. If there were no currency then this would not be a problem. You think I care about some millionaire bitching and complaining about who didnt make the extra $2 million cause a movie was downloaded. Not to mention that movies are just an recreational event of entertainment. If there were no movie theatre then would this be a problem....if there was no television would this be a problem. Get real! Copyrights are shit. Maybe they should ban video cameras and copying devices...or maybe even computers so we wouldn't even be having this conversation for instance. Everything is just a bunch of media propaganda to make people like you believe that the more rich and powerful economies in the world are hurting because movies are being downloaded. Thus taking focus off the real picture of the real problems of the world economies. For the record...I live in the U.S. "mate"..... and it is shit here. I'm not gonna sit here and make myself believe that our economy is hurting because of pirated movies...especially in a country where entertainment is very over rated with that life imitates art shit. When dealing with American politics your just dealing with a bunch of shit kickin hypocrites and shit starters thinkin they should police the whole damn world (as you can see by the nonsense war thats going on which is really affecting our economy pretty badly). At the most part American tax dollars are being spent more on defense purposes than the economy itself and the total amount being spent in Iraq nearly exceeds billions of dollars. This includes rebuilding a country after the fact that we destroyed it. I could get more in depth but it would be a waste of time. Until then... yes there are 2 sides of a story but I'll stick to the side of people sharing and trading which was a very real system before currency ever became an issue to the world itself. And anyone please don't try the reverse psychology card this way cause I'm gonna tell you straight up......If I made a movie I really don't care about the fame or the money. In my opinion do as you wish. I'm happy with the fact that people watched it.....but this is me. Yeah I'm hardworkin and between poor and mid class like the average person. I have other problems to deal with...so like most people who use choice as the best weapon....you either buy or you dont.

Hi everyone! Okay so we are sick of corruption,politics,soft-pedaling and snitches. It is like a group of people who see an accident;everyone tells the truth as best as they can, and yet each description is different. So we don't buy some stuff. Now what? As for privacy,I am not sure anything really works very well. By the way, no offense Duke8888, but who are you? Do you get a commission or a break for your vigelance and input?
take care and have fun!

A Mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package.
"What food might this contain?" he wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! there Is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house".
The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry Mr.. Mouse, But there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow.
She said, "Wow, Mr.. Mouse. I'm sorry for you. But it's no skin off my nose."
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.
Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
So next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it doesn't concern you, remember that when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Grateful for any and all helpful information and guidance. Thank you arnold2

So how does this correlate to illegal file sharing or the torrent site that was taken down? Let me see, The Mouse is the torrent user, The Trap and Farm owners represent The Government, and The Snake is the malicious excessive torrent-sharing bastard. Oh, also the farm animals are the ignorant people of the world.
So we as the ignorant farm animals should fight to keep mousetraps out of the houses so that the mice can spread disease in the house. Did you know that mouse urine is a potent allergen and even lab workers have to take major precaution when working with mice..? So the snake gets sued for distributing current Hollywood movies like crazy, and raises awareness to government officials who tighten the reigns a little on the poor, poor farm animals.
You are an idiot.

i use BearShare (p2p) i have look it and IF you dont Shar just download you cant get dun if you think you can tell me i can now change my ip
by useing Steganos Internet Anonym Pro™ 7
downlaod load here http://www.steganos.com/?product=SIAPRO7&language=en&layout=web2005
now when i delete I encrypted data 256Bit then i use erase (google it it free) so no 1 can recover it back eg police it right over it 250 time
70% on my 250g hard drive is encrypted /backup on the web
(in a week I scan my pc using the top 8 antivirus)
Norton antivirus is shit
there lots of ways just downlaod DONT Shar and you be OK i bet if i was dun i wood have to pay $50 000 + it finds LOL
use ID-Blaster +plus it ok

I work for a media replication company www.DiscusGroup.co.uk and I'm not saying this for protection of our business but I see the effects on the small artists and film production companies first hand which stops them from making future quality projects being completed successfully for your enjoyment.

First hand I have a friend who I have seen make staff redundant because his content was ripped and put for public access.

We whole heartedly support this move and subscribe to
FACT, IRMA and voluntary MCPS reporting to stop those without intelligence or skill to create their own content ripping off others who have the brains from being robbed of well deserved income.

Remember the next time you see a friend lose a job it could be because it was downloading that lost his company revenue.